Denali-gate

In the US state of Alaska there is a national park that has been known as “Denali National Park and Preserve” since 1980.

Inside the park is a mountain that has been called Denali by the Alaska Geographic Board since 1975. The mountain is North America’s tallest.

Native Alaskans have called the mountain Denali for centuries. That name is derived from an Athabascan word meaning “high” or “tall.” Today, all Alaskans call the mountain Denali. That is why Sarah Palin referred to the mountain as Denali in her 2009 farewell address after resigning halfway through her first term as governor.

In 1917, the US government renamed the mountain “Mount McKinley” after a US president from Ohio. President McKinley never visited Alaska nor had any connection to the mountain.

For decades, Alaskans have been trying to get the US government to recognize the mountain’s original name, but their efforts have been blocked by Ohio politicians. This week, their efforts finally paid off: President Obama ordered the US Department of the Interior to restore the name of the mountain to its original name.

Predictably, the GOP lost its mind over this and decided to try to make a scandal out of this non-news. Let this blogger be the first to call it Denali-gate.

Speaker John Boehner lamented Obama’s action and said he was “deeply disappointed in this decision.”

Ohio’s Republican congressman Bob Gibbs called it “constitutional overreach” and vowed he would be “working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action.”

And Donald Trump made clear that if he is elected president he will change the mountain’s name back to Mount McKinley. But why? The mountain is in Alaska and Alaskans call it Denali. Why should people in Ohio get to name a mountain in Alaska? Why do Alaskans not get to decide the official US name for this mountain that is in their own state? And why would Trump want to get involved, much less take Ohio’s side?

Oh, wait. Ohio has 18 electoral votes. Alaska has only 3.

Ahh. Now I get it.